Professional Topics

Category

Sub-Category
(if applicable)

Definition/Examples

Administration and Management

Abstracts that pertain to management and administration of and by medical physicists. This may include staffing, human relations, recruiting, disciplinary actions, equipment selection and procurement, facility construction and financing.

Economics

Abstracts that pertain to economic and financial issues that effect medical physicists. This includes reimbursement, compensation, billing, etc.

Education (Clinical)

Abstracts that pertain to education and training of and by medical physicists. This may include the education of medical physicists, physicians, allied health and the public.

Ethics and Legal

Abstracts that pertain to litigation, law suits, contract preparation and reconciliation, ethics in patient care, in the workplace and in education and research.

Legislation and Regulation

Abstracts that pertain to regulatory or legislative issues that effect medical physics or are impacted by medical physics. This includes federal and state agency interactions and federal and state legislative bodies. CRCPD, NRC, Congress, CARE, others.

Professional Practice of Medical Physics

Organizational activities related to the performance of clinical medical physics procedures. This may include implementation and application of procedures, education related to the practice and issues specific to the practice environment.

Joint: Imaging/Therapy Physics

Lung cancer remains a disease with high mortality. Finding disease early and staging it accurately are essential for cure or long-term survival. A variety of innovative imaging methods are under investigation including low dose computed tomography for lung cancer screening, ‘4D’ CT and PET for tumor localization, and computer aided detection (CAD) tools combined with state of the art imaging modalities to aid the radiologist in nodule detection. Radiation therapy in the thorax is exceptionally challenging due to cardiac and respiratory motion, and “4DRT” methods which dynamically adjust the treatment beam are in the research phase often in the setting of aggressive hypofractionated dose schedules.

All abstracts submitted to the John S. Laughlin Science Council Research Symposium that are NOT selected for the symposium, will be considered for oral, moderated poster, or standard poster presentation.

Young Investigators who wish to participate in the Young Investigator Competition may submit to this category, but will not be considered for the Symposium.

Junior Investigators who wish to participate in the Junior Investigator Competition may submit to this category and will be considered for the Symposium.

Use of imaging for target and normal organ def. Algorithms for organ segmentation and image registration, including deformable methods. Use of molecular (e.g. PET) and other functional imaging modalities (e.g. dynamic contrast MR) in defining target and normal organs.

therapy assessment imaging

Use of functional imaging to map tumor regression or normal tissue damage during or after therapy.

Topics related to cone-beam CT, including the use of flat-panel detectors for cone-beam CT. Research related specifically to cone-beam CT reconstruction may be submitted in this subcategory or in "Reconstruction Techniques," above.

Techniques for display of image data, including display performance evaluation, new display technologies, 2D and 3D displays, and related topics.

Dosimetry, Radiation Protection, and Quality Control (Imaging)

Quality Control

Technology and techniques for imaging quality assurance, including topics related to the practice of diagnostic medical physics and radiology quality assurance (TQM, etc.). Included in this subcategory are topics of accreditation and regulatory interest, such as the ACR, FDA, etc.

Imaging Dosimetry and Radiation Protection

All topics in the area of radiation protection, including shielding, safety, and dosimetry as related to medical imaging, including internal and external radiation sources. Special attention will be paid to submissions on new protection or dosimetry approaches. Abstracts concerning a given modality but focusing on dosimetric aspects (e.g., imaging dose in CT or PET) should be submitted under this category.

Fluoroscopy

Topics related to real-time fluoroscopy, including digital techniques, imaging system design and characterization, new methods of performance characterization, and clinical studies.

Topics in all areas of medical image processing including new methodologies, image or feature enhancement, tissue segmentation, and clinical evaluation, as applied to any medical imaging modality.

Visualization / Rendering

Techniques for rendering and display of medical image data.

Image Science

Imaging Performance: Measurement and Modeling

Topics of fundamental image science and imaging physics, including measurement and mathematical modeling of detector performance, imaging system evaluation, linear systems analysis, new evaluation techniques, performance metrology, etc. Topics specific to a given modality may be submitted in this category or that of the modality, at the authors' discretion.

All modalities with application in medical imaging not covered in other categories, including infrared imaging, impedance imaging, thermoacoustic imaging, MEG, and other topics.

Nuclear Medicine

New Technology and Techniques

All aspects of Nuclear Medicine, including SPECT and PET, imaging system design, image acquisition, reconstruction, tracers, and clinical studies. Abstracts concerning image fusion of nuclear medicine images should be submitted in the Visualization and Image Fusion category. Those concerning image processing, display, CAD, etc. should be submitted under their respective categories.

OPTICAL AND OTHER IMAGING

All aspects of optical imaging, including optical coherence tomography, detectors, lasers, image acquisition, reconstruction, and clinical studies. Abstracts specific to small animal imaging by optical methods may be submitted in this category or the Small Animal Imaging category. Unless specifically related to optical imaging, abstracts concerning image processing, display, CAD, etc. should be submitted under respective categories, below.

All aspects of Nuclear Medicine, including SPECT and PET, imaging system design, image acquisition, reconstruction, tracers, and clinical studies. Abstracts concerning image fusion of nuclear medicine images should be submitted in the Visualization and Image Fusion category. Those concerning image processing, display, CAD, etc. should be submitted under their respective categories.

Vascular, Endovascular, and Cardiac Imaging

New Technology and Clinical Applications

Topics related to vascular, endovascular, and cardiac x-ray imaging. Abstracts on other modalities, including ultrasound, MRI, PET, etc., should be submitted their respective categories